33. Bellyache

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Castle was in the kitchen pulling out glasses, rummaging through the fridge and cabinets for cheese and crackers and choosing a bottle of red wine from his wide selection. He placed everything on the coffee table in the living room before moving over to the fireplace to get the fire started. His copy of Without Love was lying on the couch along some other movies he thought Kate might like.

The kids were already in bed, had actually been fast asleep the second their heads hit the pillows, the long day and the pool session obviously taking their toll. After that Kate had wanted to take a bath but had promised to join him afterwards and so he was waiting rather impatiently and was just slightly bored when he remembered there was still cookie dough left in the fridge.

Getting the bowl and grabbing a spoon, all the while grinning like a boy on Christmas Eve, he sat down at the kitchen counter while he started to dig In. The smile on his face widened when he reviewed the day and how different it had been from all the ones they'd had out here before.

Meredith had never wanted to come up here during fall or winter time, claiming there was just nothing to do if she couldn't tan all day long. His ex-wife would have never joined them in the pool for some fun, would've stayed away from their baking contest. But Kate - Kate was so different, not only from Meredith but every other woman he'd ever been with.

No woman other than her grandmother had ever given Alexis the kind of attention Kate had given her all day or actually ever since the two of them had met. And he could see how Alexis was blossoming around Kate, was growing more confident with every nice word and with every action that showed her Kate cared, that she wasn't in the way or an inconvenience to be dealt with. A feeling her own mother was constantly giving her as he recalled the latest incident which had been the aftermath of Alexis' birthday.

October 10th, 2002

Meredith finally called two days later, two days too late and only after he had tried to get in touch with her and had left more than a dozen messages. When she finally did call she acted as if everything was fine, telling him he was totally overreacting before he handed the phone over to Alexis.

The talk with her daughter was rather short, because as soon as Alexis mentioned Jamie and Kate her mother demanded to be handed back to him.

"Who are those people?" Meredith was hissing into the phone and Castle was really not in the mood to play along with her diva-like behavior.

"What people?" He asked seemingly unbothered by her tone when nothing was further from the truth as he guided Alexis into the living room with the whispered promise to get ice cream for her later, before he turned to walk back into his office, closing the door behind him.

"Kate and Jamie," she spat, "apparently Alexis' new best friends?" His ex-wife continued to snap into the receiver and Castle knew this one was partly on him. He should have told her. It was not Alexis' job to fill her mother in about the new addition to their family. But Meredith was never interested in anything that didn't concern herself and frankly he just hadn't wanted to tell her. He knew she would have an opinion that she certainly would feel the need to share with him. One he had no interest in.

He sighed, accepting that there was no way around it, "Jamie is my daughter," he finally stated and was met with heavy breathing on the other end of the line.

"She's what?" Meredith tone was cold, on the edge of fury and there had been times where it had scared the crap out of him, but not anymore.

"Jamie is my daughter and Kate is her mother," he repeated calmly and then simply waited.

"You cheated on me?" She was yelling and Castle had to hold the receiver away from his ear until she was done.

"Now that is rich coming from you," he replied sarcastically, "and no, unlike you I kept my vows."

"Richard, don't you dare bring that up again," she growled and he could only laugh at her behavior.

"You started it," he shrugged though she couldn't see it and then added, "I met Kate after we got divorced. Jamie just turned two."

"And how come I only learn about this now?" Meredith was still fuming. She wasn't stupid, the way Alexis had talked about this woman had clearly implied that her daughter was very fond of her. And that was surely not a state that had developed over just a couple of days in Meredith's belief. After all Alexis was a very shy and introverted child, easily overlooked and even she as her mother had to constantly lure her out of her shell.

"Because I only learned about this recently myself," he defeated himself, not willing to give his ex any further details than that.

And suddenly the atmosphere changed, he heard her taking a pitiful sigh and braced himself for what was to come, before Meredith purred, "Oh Kitten, I hope you don't believe all of this without a paternity test."

He could only gasp.

"I knew something like this was bound to happen sooner or later," she continued, her voice sweet and soft and for someone who didn't know her she sounded very convincing.

"Something like what?"

"A young woman saying you're the father of her child." She went on, "Richard you are a rich, handsome man who has a history of sleeping around, of course someone would try to get to your money with a shady scheme like this."

"She's my daughter and Kate is not like this," he growled into the phone and for a long time neither of them spoke a word.

"Are you sleeping with her?"

He simply hung up.

He was staring across the room into the fireplace, the bowl of cookie dough now empty in front of him.

He hadn't talked to Meredith since their argument nor had she tried to call Alexis again and while there was a part of him that felt for his daughter, who once again had gotten disappointed by her mother, the bigger part of him was glad she hadn't, knowing she would have only managed to make things worse.

His stomach grumbled and he winced in pain, thinking that maybe all that cookie dough hadn't been such a great idea after all. He sighed deeply, his smile returning when he thought about how happy Alexis had been today, how happy she was whenever she could spend time with Jamie or Kate. There had been a part of him that had worried she might feel jealous and neglected with a baby sister in the house. She had been used to his and her grandmother's undivided attention in the past and with all the insecurities she was struggling with he had feared she might recoil from them. But instead she had gained confidence in the short period of time, having Jamie look up to her was certainly something she enjoyed and took very seriously, they were already so close that it was hard to believe they hadn't spent the first two years of Jamie's life together.

But the real jackpot in all of this had been Kate, she had been so attentive to Alexis right from the start it had almost been too good to be true and it was easy to see that Alexis adored her. Kate was genuinely interested in everything Alexis had to say, she always made sure to spend some extra time with his daughter when the four of them were together and he was beyond grateful that she cared as much about Alexis' wellbeing in all of this as for Jamie's.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard movement from the stairs and pushing off the counter he walked into the living room to see Kate coming towards him.

"Hey," she smiled, wearing a pair of yoga pants, thick wool socks and a wide, lose fitting shirt, her curls pinned up on her head, no make-up, and once again she took his breath away. How could someone look so stunning in this less than casual dress-up?

"Hey," he smiled back, but his features soon turned agitated as his hands moved down to his stomach.

"Are you okay?" Kate asked, concern lacing her words as she stepped closer to him, her hand reaching up to feel his head.

Her touch was like heaven, he thought, slightly leaning into it and he held his breath when she moved to brush a strand of hair away from his forehead as she frowned, "You're not hot."

He managed a lopsided grin, "Really? The way you looked at me in the pool I would think -."

"Shut up," she blushed. "You don't seem to have a fever," she corrected herself, still studying his face.

"No, I ate the cookie dough leftovers," he admitted guiltily, pointing towards the kitchen counter.

"All of it?" She questioned in disbelief, remembering exactly how much dough had been left. She walked over into the kitchen, inspecting the now empty bowl herself. "No wonder you have stomach cramps."

He just shrugged sheepishly and then groaned in pain, "Ouch."

"Do you have a warm-water bag?" She asked, already placing the kettle on the stove and rummaging through the cupboards in search of tea.

Castle slowly shuffled into the kitchen behind her, one hand pressed to his abdomen, the other pulling out a furry thing that looked like a sheep.

"What's that?" She gasped amused, pointing at whatever Castle was holding in his hand.

"Warm-water bag," he shrugged and was delighted to see her laugh.

"Okay," she grinned, taking the thing from him and giving him a gentle push, "why don't you lay down on the couch? I'll be right over."

He did as he was told, slightly overwhelmed by her care. No woman beside his mother or daughter had ever done something like this, not even such a simple thing as filling a warm-water bag for him.

He settled down, listening at her working in the kitchen, letting it soothe him until the burning question in his head became too much to hold in, "Did you have fun today?" He asked, hopeful.

For a moment she didn't reply but then he heard her sigh, "Yes, yes I had." He could hear the smile in her voice and it made his heart skip. "Thanks for taking us here Castle. It really is wonderful."

"We can come back anytime," he told her, surprised to hear her voice so close when she answered.

"We'll see," she was smiling down at him, signalling him to sit up a bit, before handing him a hot cup of tea and placing the sheep on his stomach.

He sighed in contentment, already feeling better.

She looked around, finding a blanket and pulling it over him as well, "You'll see. Half an hour and your stomach will have settled down again."

"Thank you, Kate," he got out and she patted his shoulder, maybe letting her fingers linger a bit longer than absolutely necessary.

"You're welcome Castle, but no more cookie dough for you." She instructed before sitting down on the opposite couch, suddenly looking tense.

It didn't go unnoticed by him, the way her body language changed, there was definitely something on her mind.

"Kate?" He asked gently and she lifted her eyes to meet his and his heart dropped, this day had been too good to be true anyway.

"Castle we need to talk," she mumbled and he was sure nothing good could follow these words.

"Okay," he nodded slowly, sitting up further and placing the tea cup on the coffee table, "what do you want to talk about?"

Kate sighed, fiddling nervously with her hands, this shouldn't be so hard.

"Kate what is it?" He asked anxious, seeing all his hopes for their weekend suddenly crushed.

"I think you should do a paternity test," she finally got out, lifting shy eyes to look at him.

"What?" He stared at her in shock. Everything went still and he could swear he heard his ex-wife laughing at him. This couldn't be happening, it just couldn't. Surely he had fallen into a cookie dough induced coma and would wake up any second. But he didn't.

"Castle," she spoke softly, trying to get his attention. Maybe she hadn't chosen the best approach to start this conversation.

"No Kate," he shook his head, getting up from the couch and starting to pace in front of the coffee table. "No, Jamie is my daughter. I'm not ...," he stuttered. "I'm not giving her up." He loved her too much. How could she come up with this after months? "Don't even think about it," he growled.

Now it was Kate's turn to look confused, "Of course she is your daughter," she said and then she realized what he must have thought and damn it, she really should have started this differently. "Jamie is your daughter, there's no doubt about that, Castle. There has been nobody else."

She waited for him to look at her, seeing him relax as he sat back down on the couch.

"Then why, Kate?"

She looked nervous again but this time she didn't wait, "Because I want it to be official. I want you to be her father, legally, and to get that progress started we need to do a paternity test to get your name on the birth certificate."

He was stunned, he certainly hadn't expected this, "Are you sure?" He stammered stupidly, because really why was he questioning her decision right now?

"Yes, absolutely." She smiled shyly at him, "You're her dad and you and Jamie deserve it to be official."

"Kate," he breathed and then without thinking about it rounded the coffee table, pulling her in for a tight hug. "Thank you."

He could feel her shake her head into his neck as she held onto him.

"You don't have to thank me," she whispered. "I learned a lot over the past months and you gave me something back I thought I had lost a while ago."

"What's that?" he asked breathless.

"The ability to trust someone," she choked out and he pulled her even tighter, swearing he would never make her doubt him.

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AN: I'll try to get another chapter out before I'll leave you with a mini hiatus as I enjoy a long weekend. ;-)